How Your Puppy is Chosen
We strive to breed stable, sociable, breed-typical temperaments in our puppies. There will always be some level of individual variation within a litter, but most homes that are prepared for a Brittany should be a good fit for most of our puppies. When selecting your puppy, we will walk you through each puppy’s temperament that has been shown from birth to 8 weeks. Being that we have spent the most time with the puppies for the first 8 weeks of their life, we will make the final decision on which puppies will fit best into each home. We may select show and performance prospects that we believe will be a better fit for homes with those expectations, and puppies that we believe will be better suited to companion homes. We will strive to take each home’s preferences into account and may let you choose between several puppies, but cannot guarantee your first choice. We do not reserve puppy pick order, rather we strive to place puppies in their best fit homes.
We do not formally temperament test our puppies, as there is no replicable scientific evidence that temperament testing puppies at 8 weeks old yields meaningful results. The closest thing to statistically significant results that has been generated by independent research (not conducted by the program that stands to benefit) is that temperament testing 6 month old puppies can reliably indicate whether or not the dog will fail out of a service dog training program. The level of detail in “boldness,” “shyness,” “engagement” and other specific personality traits cannot be measured in a meaningful way in young puppies, as there are too many variables involved in how those traits may develop and change as puppies age. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is likely that specific “results” from temperament tests on young puppies are a combination of correlation, environmental factors, and confirmation bias.
Puppy Raising Protocols
Our puppies are raised with Puppy Culture protocols and Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) in order to start you our on the best foot possible with your new puppy. These protocols, especially ENS, have been shown to improve resiliency and confidence in puppies. You can read more about Puppy Culture here.
Our puppies are raised in our home in their own designated whelping room with round the clock care. We introduce our puppies to a few known, safe dogs prior to leaving our home. Puppies will be exposed to new stimuli each day, as well as loud noises and birds prior to going to their new homes. We socialize our puppies throughout their time in our home and encourage you to continue when you take your puppy home!
Contracts and Requirements
We require home to fill out a Puppy Application, then complete a phone or video call prior to being placed on our waitlist. We will provide updates as to breeding times, puppy counts, and other relevant news on our social media. Once puppies are born and we know the count, we will begin contacting homes on our waitlist and taking deposits.
We require that we meet our puppy homes in person at least once prior to taking home a puppy OR on pickup day. We are happy to arrange transport for homes that we have met prior to pickup day, but if we haven’t been able to meet yet, we require that you pick your puppy up in person. We stand behind our puppies for their lifetimes, so we want to make sure we get to connect with their new homes!
All our puppies are sold on a contract, which may be altered for individual homes and will be tailored to your goals with your puppy, though most terms will remain the same across all homes. Please read it throughly before signing; we will ask you to sign the contract when you pick up your puppy and will provide you with a copy for your records.
You can view a draft of our Companion/Hunting Home Contract or Show/Performance Home Contract at these links.
We guarantee hips up to five years of age, that puppies are free from contagious disease within 10 days of purchase, and that all paperwork issued for said puppy is true and accurate. Spaying or neutering prior to growth plate closure has been linked to increased incidences of joint and orthopedic issues. We do not recommend spaying or neutering prior to 1 year at the earliest, preferably 2 years. We ask that our puppy homes do not spay or neuter prior to 1 year; doing so will void our health guarantee.
Our contract further states that our puppies shall not be rehomed without our knowledge or surrendered to a shelter or rescue under any circumstances. We will stand behind our puppies for a lifetime and will take them back at any time, without judgement. We ask that you please take advantage of this support and if you cannot keep your puppy, to reach out so that we can assist, rather than sending them to a shelter or rescue.
Pricing & Deposit Information
We take a $500 deposit to hold a puppy for you once the litter is on the ground and we can guarantee that we will have a puppy for you that meets your sex preference, if you have one. Taking deposits helps me to ensure that each puppy has a committed home waiting for them when they turn 8-9 weeks old. Please consider carefully whether you are prepared to welcome a puppy into your home. Prior to accepting deposits, we will provide our deposit terms in writing to each home.
Our puppies cost between $1500-$2000 depending on the litter, due by or on pickup day. Frozen semen litters are a more significant investment in both time and money and may cost more, but our base price is typically $1500. The remainder of this cost, minus your deposit, is due by pickup day. We post our prices openly because we know that cost is a consideration for many families. I am happy to discuss how and why we set the prices we do and the investment we put into every litter. We believe that an upfront investment in a healthy dog from a carefully selected background is well worth it for your new best friend!
Sending Your Puppy Home
Puppies will leave our home with a “going home” pack full of goodies, including a blanket that smells like mom, some food to use to gently transition to your food of choice, some toys, a copy of your contract, and some literature on puppy raising that you may find helpful. We will register your puppy on pickup day upon receipt of payment and their paperwork will be mailed to you from AKC directly. All puppies except show prospects will go home on limited registration, which I may lift upon proof of health testing to CHIC certification standards (hips, elbows or heart, and eyes for Brittanys) after consultation with the puppy home. Limited registration means that the puppy cannot be shown in conformation, and its offspring cannot be registered. I do this in order to ensure that dogs are always health tested prior to breeding.
I encourage my puppy buyers to take not only a puppy class, but ongoing training classes to help build that relationship if they are not familiar with dog training. Even a companion dog needs to have a solid recall and a desire to interact with and listen to their family, and professional assistance in building that relationship can help it go much more smoothly. I highly recommend learning about the concept of “engagement”– what it is and how to reward it. It will pay dividends to teach a pointing breed who is innately interested in the environment to pay attention to you.
I also encourage my puppy buyers to crate train their puppies right away for their own safety. An unattended puppy or dog can get into household objects that are hazardous to their health, as well as ruining their family’s belongings. Puppies will be started on crate training by the time they go home.
I am always available to help troubleshoot and direct my puppy buyers toward resources that can help them along in their journey. I am always learning and may not have all the answers, but I have an extensive network of friends, breeders, trainers, and handlers as well as years worth of research and resources that I am happy to share. My goal is for each and every puppy to find their forever home and for each and every family to be equipped to turn their puppy into the companion of their dreams.
If you’re ready to talk about getting on our waitlist, fill out our Puppy Application form and I’ll reach out within a week. If you don’t hear back, send me a quick email at aviarykennels@gmail.com. I don’t want to miss you!
You can also follow us on Instagram @aviarykennels or follow our Facebook page!
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